5 pillars to build emotional customer engagement

By improving the customer experience and strengthening emotional bonds, brands can encourage consumers to return more frequently. This article explores the 5 key pillars of an innovative customer engagement program.

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P.1 Community

Sharing and communication are crucial to engagement. Brands need to create a space for exchanges between consumers too, forming a "community". These users, identifying with the brand, become actors in its evolution. According to the Harvard Business Review, community programs outperform transactional programs in terms of brand loyalty and attachment, turning customers into ambassadors.

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However, moving from a "Consumer Centric" to a "Community Centric" approach requires sustained effort over the long term.

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Download the full guide to access:

👉 The 5 essential elements (Rituals, emotional connection, ...) to effectively integrate your customers into your community.

👉 Co-creation as a community gas pedal.

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P.2 Personalization

According to a study conducted by Audirep: 65% of consumers feel that loyalty programs are not sufficiently targeted, and 79% want benefits that match their consumption profile.

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Brands are therefore faced with a dilemma. They need to understand customers' preferences while respecting their personal data rights. With the decline of third-party data and the elimination of third-party cookies by Google and Apple, brands must turn to respectful first-party data. Analyzing this data is crucial to building customer loyalty. With an in-depth understanding of habits and preferences, it becomes easier to create meaningful experiences that encourage engagement.

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Download the full guide to discover the secret ingredient of personalization that hits the bull's eye!

P.3 Edutainment

Mixing play and education is an effective customer loyalty strategy. Starbucks illustrated this with its Odyssey program, which combines educational coffee quests with game dynamics. Today, rewarding a purchase is no longer enough. Brands need to add value to customer interactions, awarding rewards with high emotional value to strengthen the bond with them.

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Integrating gamification into loyalty programs encourages these interactions and engagement. Offering badges for certain actions or stimulating competition via rankings are effective strategies. Rewarding User Generated Content can turn customers into brand ambassadors. The key is to offer engaging experiences that are less costly for brands than expensive rewards, while ensuring ownership of earnings and traceability of actions.

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Download the full guide‍ and access our analysis of Starbucks' Odyssey program!

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P.4 Ownership & traceability

Voluntary opt-in is crucial for future loyalty. One way to achieve this is to reinforce a sense of ownership among your customers, aligning their interests with those of your brand to increase loyalty. This involves allowing customers to collect, exchange, and utilize their benefits, even outside your platform. As the value of these benefits and membership increases, so does the value of your brand, creating a virtuous circle. The feeling of ownership fosters loyalty, referrals and willingness to pay.

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Download the full guide and find out how to cultivate this sense of ownership in 3 areas.

P.5 Collaboration

Establishing multi-brand partnerships enriches the customer experience and offers added value that transcends your brand. Airline frequent flyer programs illustrate this: by partnering with hotels, car rental companies and credit institutions, they offer diversified and enriching services, responding to customer expectations for a richer offer.

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Download the full guide to understand the concepts of interoperability and the associated technological challenges.

MASTER THESE STRATEGIES WITH A SMART LOYALTY PLATFORM

Designed for CRM and Loyalty teams, Cohort augments their existing loyalty tools with modern engagement and loyalty experiences. In a few clicks, with no IT required, Cohort empowers CRM & Loyalty managers to reward customer engagement beyond transactions, to deliver higher AOV and LTV, thanks to 4 features:

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1️⃣ An intuitive experience builder: a no-code interface to create and execute smart Loyalty experiences in just a few clics.

2️⃣ A library over 50+ pre-configured integrations: with Instagram, X, Strava, Spotify, Typeform, Youtube, Tik Tok… to engage your customers wherever they are

3️⃣ A user interface generator: to generate on the go loyalty landing pages and a personalized loyalty hub for your customers.

4️⃣ Without IT: Cohort integrates quickly and easily with your existing solutions (CRM, CDP, loyalty tools). Whether you use Salesforce, Shopify, Comarch, Imagino... Cohort seamlessly synchronises customer data and segments to ensure consistency and personalization.